Paring knife



March 2, 1943. J. NELSON ETAL 2,312,771

PARINGI .KNIF E Filed June 23, 1941 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 2, 194.3

UNITE stares PATENT OFFICE PARING KNIFE.

Jennings Nelson and'Alton R. Stewart, St. Paul, Minn.

Application June 23; 1941, Serial No. 399,272

7 Claims.

Various types of knives have been constructedfor use in paring vegetables such as potatoes.

Someof these knives have the difficulty that' they must be sharpened frequently in order to serve their purpose. Another disadvantage rests in the fact that the blades are formed of relatively thick material, malnng it difficult to regulate the depth of out. Knife blades of thin material will not stand up over as long a time as thicker blades and have been disadvantageous for this reason.

The purpose of the present invention lies in the provision of a paring knife which incorporates a replaceable blade such as a razor blade or the like. Such a blade has many advantages over knife blades ordinarily used. Razor blades are usually sharper than blades provided onparing knives. Additionally, the blades are thin, and for this reason the depth of out can be readily regulated. Furthermore, the blade may be economically removed and replaced, when it is desired, enabling the user to maintain a sharp blade in the knife at all times.

A purpose of the present invention resides in the provision of a holder which protects and guards the blade to prevent injury to the person using the knife. A gauge flange on the holder is positioned closely adjacent the cutting edge of the blade, forming a guard therefor. With such a guard, there is little danger of the extremely sharp blade causing injury to a person handling the knife.

A feature of our invention lies in the provision of a support for a razor blade which engages the has been. attempted to secure a razor blade to a fiat reinforcing plate, with the edge of the blade extending beyond the supporting plate for outing purposes.

a tendency to the ready accessibility of the blade. The blade is positively held from movement lengthwise of the blade, and rearwardly. Limited forward movement of the blade is possible to disengage With this type of construction, the flat reinforcing plate interfered with the' being pared between the blade the blade from the channel embracing the rear edge thereof. Such forward movement flexes the blade, however, preventing forward movement of the same unassisted; and the blade cannot slip out of the holder by a forward movement.

These and other objects and novel features of our invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawing forminga part of our specification:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of our knife showing the construction thereof.

Figure 2' is a top plan view of our knife in -1; readiness for operation.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the holder portion of our knife showing the blade and handle removed therefrom.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view through the blade and holder, the position of the section being indicated by the line 5-4 of Figure 2.

The device in general is indicated by the letter A and comprises. a handle it) which may be of wood or other suitable material. The handle I!) zgemay be similar to the type of handle usually used on paring knives and is designed to receive the shank of the blade holder. The tip end of the handle may be reinforced by a ferrule H if it is so desired. I

The holder is best illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawing and comprises a rectangular frame indicated in general by the numeral i2 and including opposed ends 13 which are connected by a channel M and by the gauge flange E 5. This ;;provides an open rectangular frame which is designed to support the blade B in operative position.

Along the outer edges of the ends l3 of the rectangular frame l2, we provide upwardly ex- ,:,tending ears l5 which are designed to engage along opposite edges of the blade B, to hold the blade from longitudinal movement with respect to the holder. The channel M is formed by bending the edge of the strip ll upwardly to 5 form a shoulder l9 and then parallel to the strip I! to form a second channel side 28. In other words, the strips l1 and 20 form channel sides and the shoulder it) forms the channel base, The strip ll lies on the same plane as the 'sides l3 of the rectangular frame l2, while the remainder of the channel extends angularly with respect thereto.

The ends 13 of the frame l2 are enlarged to form enlarged areas ill and 22 from which may be punched blade engaging ears or'tongues 23 tangular frame. Thus the blade B iS held from longitudinal movement by the ears l6 and the ears 23 and 24, and is held from rearward movement by engagement in the channel I4.

The rear edge of the blade B engages the sides l1 and 20 of the channel l4, and therefore the blade B can not move rearwardly when being used.

This construction leaves the blade B free to move forwardly from the channel M. In order to prevent free forward movement of the blade B away from the channel Hi, we bend the ends l3, as best illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawing, these ends bending at substantially the point 25 so that forward movement of the blade B will flex or spring the blade. As the blade can not move forwardly without flexing, and as all normal pressure is directed rearwardly against the blade, this blade B will not move out of place accidentally in operation.

The ends l3 of the rectangular frame are bent along a line of fold 26, and these strips l3 continue into upwardly and forwardly inclined strips 21. The strips 21 support the gauge flange 15 at an angle with respect to the blade B, the rear edge 29 of the gauge flange being spaced forwardly and slightly above the cutting edge 30 of the blade B. Thus as the gauge flange l5 rides over the surface of a vegetable to be peeled, a uniformly thick peeling is removed from the vegetable by the blade B. The rearsurface 29 of the gauge flange rides over the surface of the vegetable in advance of the cutting edge 30 of the blade to gauge the depth of cut.

The shank 35 forms a part of one of the end strips i3 of the holder and is driven into the holder ill to hold the handle securely to the holder. The shank 3! is secured to the holder body adjacent the enlargement 22 and this shank 3| is angular in cross section as the fold line 26 extends throughout its length.

Projecting from the enlargement 2|, and forming a part of the opposite end strip l3, we provide a strip 32 which is bent to form a loop 33 and which is provided with a sharpened forward edge 34. The loop 33 is inclined forwardly or rearwardly from the body of the holder to facilitate the use of the same. This loop 33 is designed for gouging out the eyes of potatoes, and bad spots in the vegetable being peeled. The loop 33 may also be used for other purposes, such as the formation of French fried or shoestring potatoes, which before the frying process, are ordinarily cut into long strips. The manner in which the potato body may be cut into long strips by the loop 33 will be obvious to the observer.

The blade is inserted into the holder by laying the blade upon the channel I4 and directing the ends of the blade between the ears or tongues 23 and 24. The blade will be flexed to some extent as it is forced forwardly until the rear edge of the blade clears the strip or edge 20 of the channel [4. The blade B then drops into engagement with the ends l3 of the frame I2 and by gripping the blade between the fingers and moving the same rearwardly the rear ed of the blade may be engaged in the channel M. In this position the blade is held from lateral movement with respect to the cutting edge and is also prevented from rearward movement because of the channel Hi. Forward movement of the blade is not hindered by engagement of the blade with any shoulder, but as there is little tendency for the blade to move forwardly the bend of the strips l3 is sufficient to prevent this forward movement. As has been described, forward movement of the blade acts to flex the blade, and accordingly pressure must be exerted against the blade to flex the same.

In accordance with the patent statutes, we have described the principles of construction of our paring knife, and while we have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, we desire to have it understood that this is only illustrative of a means of carrying out our invention, and that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim:

1. A paring knife including a handle, a cutter head extending from said handle, said cutter head comprising a flat open frame, means on said frame for marginally engaging and removably retaining a razor blade in position, said frame marginally engaging three edges of said blade, and a gauge bar extending forwardly of the cutting edge of said blade to gauge the depth of cut of said blade.

In operation the holder A is provided with a edge of the blade, as is common in Gem blades;

but this folded strip may be removed from the blades purchased or blades may be purchased without this folded strip.

2. A paring knife including a handle, a razor blade holder secured to said handle, said razor blade holder comprising a channel marginally engageable with an edge of a razor blade, spaced end means for holding said blade against longitudinal movement with respect to said handle, and a gauge bar extending forwardly with respect to said blade to gauge the depth of cut" of said blade.

3. A paring knife comprising a handle and a cutter head projecting from said handle, saidcutter head comprising a substantially rectangular open razor bladeholder including means engageable with three marginal edges of a razor blade to hold the same in proper position with respect to the holder, and a gauge flange on said cutter head designed to extend angularly with respect to the razor blade to regulate the depth of cut.

4. A paring knife comprising a handle and a cutter head projecting forwardly from said handle, said cutter head including a pair of substantially parallel end strips designed to support the ends of a razor blade, a channel conhecting said end strips designed to engage a marginal edge of a razor blade, and a gauge bar designed to extend forwardly from the cutting edge of the razor blade to regulate the depth of cut.

5. A paring knife comprising a handle, a cutter head projecting from said handle, said cutter head including a substantially rectangular open, frame, the opposed ends on one side of said tangular open'frame, opposed ends adjacent one side of said frame being inclined angularly with respect to the remainder of the frame, and a gauge flange on said one side spaced inwardly from, and. positioned at an angle to said opposed ends, said flange being inclined toward the reniainder of said frame, and means on the frame engageable with the edges of a razor blade to hold the blade in proper relation with respect to said gauge flange.

A paring knife comprising a handle, a cutter head projecting forwardly from said handle, said cutter head comprising a razor blade holder designed to engage and removably retain a razor blade, said holder being curved tonecessitate fljexing of the blade between its cutting edge and opposite edge during insertion and removal, and a gauge flange extending angularly with respect to said blade and spaced therefrom.

JENNINGS NELSON. ALTON R. STEWART. 

